Blogging can be an innovative tool for nursing educational sharing

Nurse Leader Insider, March 2, 2017

With the time-crunch worse than ever, it can be difficult to find the time to keep up with the latest in your facility, let alone the wider world of nursing. Early research conducted by Critical Care Nurse (CCN) suggests that blogs can be an effective means of communicating the latest hospital policies and best practices.

The cardiac intensive care unit at Brigham and Women’s hospital found that while many of their nurses attended professional educational opportunities, the staff had difficulty sharing information with the entire nurse staff. The staff simply did not have the time for peer-to-peer sharing of educational information. To facilitate educational sharing, the nursing practice council at the facility set up a simple private blog where staff could share what they’ve learned from various educational opportunities, such as professional conferences and panels.

After fifteen months, the hospital conducted a survey to measure the effectiveness of this approach. They found that 86% of their nurses thought the blog was an effective way to share professional education, 81% felt the blog kept them up-to-date on evidence-based practices, and 59% thought the blog led to changes in their practices. While the results are anecdotal and early, the authors of the study suggest that more rigorous research is required.

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